When I was a kid I read both comics from both Marvel and DC,
but my heart was always with Marvel. DC
seemed like Mr. Rogers—grandfatherly and in a cardigan. Marvel was more like Sesame Street—weird looking
young people on a street that I knew was supposed to be New York, even if it
looked totally alien to my eyes. Marvel
was dynamic in a way that DC couldn’t hope to be. At their best, DC came off like someone’s dad
trying to be cool.
So of course I was excited to hear about Marvel Comics: The Untold Story. Here
was my opportunity to find out what really went on in the Bullpen, and learn
the truth behind all those crazy nicknames.
Sean Howe does a fantastic job of telling the story behind
the stories. After a brief overview of
Marvel’s WWII era legacy heroes, he begins the story with the dawn of the
modern Marvel – in the 1960s with Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. From there he goes through the story of the
company, ending only around the millennium.
All the big name writers and artists seem to be here, as well as many
that would otherwise be forgotten.
Readers looking for storyline rehashes will be
disappointed. While some major
characters and storylines are discussed, it is always from the perspective of
business or creative decisions, not from any sort of in-universe perspective. But the real story is intriguing all on its
own.
It’s fascinating how many problematic issues surrounding
comics were already issues 40 years ago.
Intellectual property, creator compensation, gender and race issues,
boom and bust sales cycles, exploitative sales and marketing strategies were
all being argued many years ago. Howe
spotlights many of these issues without bringing his own perspective to the
fight. He uses interviews to allow
various voices to be heard.
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